Published 4:45 am, Thursday, May 29, 2014

The Michigan Health Information Alliance’s regional dissemination of the Choosing Wisely campaign has received national recognition from Consumer Reports and the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation.

The Choosing Wisely campaign is a national initiative focused on promoting better physician-patient conversations and quality, necessary care.

“The reason for our success is the interest, enthusiasm and engagement of many key partners in the region,” said Gary Billotti, who serves as MiHIA’s Choosing Wisely project leader. “Consistent with what MiHIA believes to be a critical underlying principle to success in any community health effort, many key stakeholders have stepped up to partner and contribute.”

Tara Montgomery is the senior director of health impact at Consumer Reports. She said MiHIA has done an extraordinary job of spreading the Choosing Wisely message.

“Consumer Reports is proud to be working with MiHIA on the Choosing Wisely campaign,” Montgomery said. “To make a cultural shift in the overuse of health care in America, there needs to be better conversation between doctors and patients. MiHIA and their partners have been very innovative in educating the Central Michigan region, and very willing to share with other communities throughout the country who are looking to replicate MiHIA’s work.”

Since Choosing Wisely launched in 2012, more than 60 leading medical specialty societies have joined to identify commonly used tests or procedures whose necessity should be discussed with your doctor.

“We have some incredibly motivated people involved in this campaign,” Billotti said. “For example, Dr. Gregg Stefanek (Gratiot Family Practice PC) drove from Clio to Alma to a 2-minute interview on the NBC25 morning show. If that doesn’t show commitment, I don’t know what does.”

Central Michigan University is airing Choosing Wisely PSAs on its local PBS television and radio stations. In addition, NBC25 is airing the PSA on several TV shows throughout prime time, and Charter Communications is doing the same on 10 of its cable stations.

St. Mary’s of Michigan, MidMichigan Health and the Saginaw County Medical Society have brought in Choosing Wisely guest speakers, shared Choosing Wisely recommendations and promoted the campaign through multiple mediums.

The nurse practitioner program at Saginaw Valley State University, under the leadership of Chair Sally Decker, has incorporated Choosing Wisely guidelines into its curriculum, and Covenant HealthCare was an early leader with a significant focus promoting Choosing Wisely guidelines.

Many experts believe that the delivery of health care in the U.S. contains too much duplication and waste, and sometimes comes at an unnecessary increased risk to the patient, MiHIA stated. It said patients need better information about what care they truly need, and knowledgeable physicians can provide this information.

As one of only nine health collaborative Choosing Wisely campaign grantees, MiHIA has helped align stakeholders on a local stage, mobilizing the delivery of Choosing Wisely information.

“The success of our Choosing Wisely campaign dramatically illustrates the power of the collective impact model,” said Dr. Catherine Baase, chair of the MiHIA Board of Directors and global director of health services for The Dow Chemical Co.

Basse saidMiHIA serves the broader region through the collaboration of multiple stakeholders with a unified mission.

“We are able to make a step change improvement through alignment with shared goal, communication and creating a new shared norm together — driving progress of the Choosing Wisely goals,” Baase said.

For more information on the Choosing Wisely campaign visit www.mihia.org